WKMG

WKMG-Local 6 was Orlando's first television station and is the area's CBS affiliate. Orignally known as WDBO-TV (for "Way Down By Orlando''), the station went on the air in July 1, 1954. It would become the longtime dominant station in the market with lots of local shows such as Central Florida Showcase (a news discussion show), Uncle Walt's Adventures, Hunting and Fishing and, of course, Romper Room. When Columbia Pictures considered buying the station from Outlet Co. in 1982, the call letters were prematurely changed from WDBO to to WCPX (for Columbia Pictures). The deal didn't go through, but the call letters remained. Meredith Corp. purchased the station in 1997, but it already owned Fox affilate WOFL-Channel 35 -- and at the time such a duopoly wasn't allowed. Meredith decided to keep WOFL and trade WKMG to Post-Newsweek (which had also bid on the station) for a Post-Newsweek station in Hartford, Conn. Post-Newsweek changed Channel 6's call letters a third time, making it WKMG in honor of Post-Newsweek's Katharine M. Graham. Some of the anchors for Local 6 News are Lauren Rowe, Jacqueline London, Tom Terry, David Pingalore or "Ping," Mike Garafolo, Erick Webber, Laura Diaz, Troy Bridges and Erik von Ancken.

Related "WKMG" Articles

In July, WKMG-Channel 6 aired staggering footage of a dead woman brought back to life with the medication Narcan. The moment the woman sat up was startling, her mother tells the CBS affiliate in the special “Opioid Nation: An American Epidemic,” airing 10...

The August ratings were not a rerun of the July ratings.
WESH-Channel 2 did repeat as the leader at 4 and 11 p.m. with the 25-to-54 age group. WKMG-Channel 6 was again the favorite at noon, and WOFL-Channel 35 was once again in front at 10 p.m.
...

New WKMG-Channel 6 sports director Jamie Seh is getting a half-hour program that will air at 11:30 p.m. Saturdays.
The show, “Saturday Night Sports With Jamie Seh,” will debut Aug. 26 and run year-round, the station announced Friday.
Seh has been...

WESH-Channel 2 and WFTV-Channel 9 divided the main bragging rights in the June ratings period.
With the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers, WESH won at 6 a.m., 4 p.m. and 11 p.m.
WFTV was tops in the 5 a.m. hour and from...

David Pingalore, the zany sports director known as “Ping,” is leaving WKMG-Channel 6 after 10 years, the CBS affiliate announced Thursday night.
“His contract is up,” news director Allison McGinley said. “His final newscast will be at 6 p.m. Friday.”...

The May TV ratings show that the race for viewers in the 25-to-54 age group continues to be tight in Central Florida. Those ratings also give a very limited sense of how many viewers local newscasts are reaching.
WFTV-Channel 9 on Thursday trumpeted...

When anchor Marla Weech departs News 13 this month, another chapter ends in a long, memorable Orlando TV career.
Weech, a native Floridian and a graduate of the University of Central Florida, spent nearly 20 years at WFTV-Channel 9, where she and Bob...

The Orlando TV ratings race intensified during February, when the Super Bowl, Oscars and Grammys drove viewing.
Without any of those events, NBC affiliate WESH-Channel 2 still managed to win at 11 p.m. with the 25-to-54 age group. That demographic is the...

In January ratings, WESH-Channel 2 pulled ahead at 11 p.m. but WFTV-Channel 9 continued to lead in early morning and from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
Both stations were off DirecTV in a fee dispute early in the month, but that time was not factored into the final...

In December news ratings, WESH-Channel 2 pulled ahead at 6 a.m. For the third consecutive month, WKMG-Channel 6 won at noon and 11 p.m. And WFTV-Channel 9 was the dominant station from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
The ratings, which were released Thursday,...

WKMG is losing one of its high-profile investigative reporters.
Erkya Washington is leaving the CBS affiliate on Friday and will become public information officer for Aramis Ayala, the newly elected state attorney for Orange and Osceola counties....

To mark the sixth-month anniversary of the Pulse attack, WKMG-Channel 6 will air the hour special "6.12.16" at 10 p.m. Monday.
"My hope is that it's cathartic," news director Allison McGinley said. "My hope is that before Christmas it can remind people...

UPDATED: The Orlando TV ratings for November underscore how competitive the market has become in local news as well as prime time.
Different stations could crow about wins with the 25-to-54 age group, which is most important to news advertisers....

The October ratings period was unusual because Hurricane Matthew made the Nielsen numbers unavailable for seven days in Central Florida.
But the results looked familiar in the 25-to-54 age group most important to news advertisers: WFTV-Channel 9 won in...

UPDATED: WKMG-Channel 6 anchor Matt Austin suffered a severe concussion and required 10 staples in the head last month after his car was totaled by a texting driver.
On the 11 p.m. Monday news, Austin issued a call to action about texting, reported...

Jessica Sanchez thought her nausea, fatigue and headaches were signs that she hadn't fully recovered from chemotherapy. An annual visit to the obstetrician-gynecologist in late May revealed otherwise: The former traffic reporter at WKMG-Channel 6...

UPDATED AND REVISED: With help from the NFL and "America's Got Talent," NBC affiliate WESH-Channel 2 won prime time as well as 11 p.m. news in the September ratings.
WESH triumphed in both contests by wide margins in August, thanks to the Rio Olympics....

WKMG-Channel 6 should have two powerful incentives for viewers to look at the 11 p.m. news Monday (tonight): video from Pulse just before the shooting and possibly an anchor's return.
The station will air video from Chriss West, a survivor of the June 12...

WKMG-Channel 6 now has a three-person anchor team in the mornings.
Kirstin O'Connor has joined Bridgett Ellison and Justin Warmoth from 5 to 7 a.m. weekdays in a new arrangement that started Tuesday.
"Kirstin was a reporter on the show," WKMG General...

This month in Orlando, the ratings don't seem as important as usual. Our TV stations fulfilled their public service in devoting long hours to the Pulse nightclub shooting.
To the stations: Thank you for your dedication to the news and your readiness to...